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Appeal in Jassi Sidhu's alleged honour killing to be heard at Supreme Court of Canada

Top court agrees to hear the Attorney General of Canada's appeal to have Jassi's mother, uncle extradited to India to face trial
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Jassi for Justice

Canada's top court will hear an appeal to extradite a Maple Ridge mother and uncle accused of murdering 25-year-old Jassi Sidhu.

The young woman was killed in India in 2000 after, Crown lawyers would later argue, she married a rickshaw driver against her family's wishes.

Her mother, Malkit Sidhu, and her uncle, Surjit Badesha, were arrested in 2012 with conspiracy to commit murder — an "honour killing."

In 2014, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled there was enough evidence to extradite the pair to India to face trial.

Sidhu and Badesha appealed, and a B.C. Court of Appeal judge granted that request over concerns the two would be tortured.

But the Attorney General of Canada, acting on behalf of the Republic of India, took it a step further and requested leave for the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa to make its case.

The top court agreed Thursday to hear the appeal. A date for that hearing has not yet been set.